_Narrative of the Journey of M. Michaux, from Lexington to Charleston in
South Carolina._
On the tenth of August, M. Michaux set out from Lexington to Nasheville,
in the state of Tenessee; and, as an establishment for the purpose of
naturalizing the vine in Kentucky, was not very far out of his road, he
resolved to visit it. Consequently, about fourteen miles from Lexington,
he quitted the road, turned to the left, strolled through some woods,
and reached the vineyard in the evening. It was, at this time, under the
superintendance of a M. Dufoux, the principal person of a small Swiss
colony, which had settled in Kentucky some years before. The vines had
been selected chiefly from the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia.
Many of them had failed; but those of the kinds which produce the
Madeira wines, appeared to give considerable hopes of success. The whole
of the vines occupied a space of about six acres; and they were planted
and fixed with props similar to those in the environs of Paris.
From this place M. Michaux was conducted, through the woods, to a ferry
over the _Kentucky River_. The borders of the river at this ferry are
formed by an enormous mass of chalky stones, remarkably peaked, and
about a hundred and fifty feet high.
Near _Harrodsburgh_ M. Michaux visited the plantation and residence of
General Adair. A spacious and commodious house, a great number of black
servants, equipages: every thing announced the opulence of the general.
Magnificent peach-orchards, and immense fields of Indian wheat,
surrounded the house. The soil was extremely fertile, as was evident
from the largeness of the blades of corn, their extraordinary height,
and the abundance of the crops.
About forty miles beyond the general's plantation, M. Michaux passed
over _Mulder Hill_, a steep and lofty mountain, that forms a kind of
amphitheatre. From its summit the neighbouring country presents the
aspect of an immense valley, covered with forests of imperceptible
extent. As far as the eye can reach, nothing but a gloomy verdant space
is seen, formed by the tops of the close-connected trees, and, through
which, not even the vestige of a plantation can be discerned. The
profound silence that reigns in these woods, uninhabited by savage
beasts, and the security of the place, forms an _ensemble_ rarely to be
seen in other countries.
About ten miles beyond _Green River_ commence what are called the
_Barrens_, or _Kentucky Meadows_. On the first day of his journey over
them, M. Michaux travelled fifteen miles; and, on the ensuing morning,
having wandered to some distance out of the road, in search of a spring,
at which to water his horse, he discovered a plantation in a low and
narrow valley. The mistress of the house told him that she had resided
there upwards of three years, and that, for eighteen months, she had not
seen any individual except of her own family: that, weary of living thus
isolated, her husband had been more than two months from home in quest
of another spot, towards the mouth of the Ohio. A daughter, about
fourteen years of age, and two children, considerably younger, were all
the company she had: her house was abundantly stocked with vegetables
and corn.
This part of the Barrens was precisely similar to that which M. Michaux
had traversed the day before; and the same kind of country extends as
far as the line which separates the state of Tenessee from that of
Kentucky. Here, to the great satisfaction of M. Michaux, he once more
entered the woods. Nothing, he says, can be more tiresome than the
doleful uniformity of these immense meadows, where there is no human
creature to be met with; and where, except a great number of partridges,
no species of living beings are to be seen.
The Barrens comprise a portion of country from sixty to seventy miles in
length, by sixty miles in breadth. According to the signification of the
name, M. Michaux had imagined that he should have to cross a naked
space, scattered here and there with a few plants; but he was agreeably
surprised to find a beautiful meadow, where the grass was from two to
three feet high. He here discovered a great variety of interesting
plants. In some parts he observed several species of wild vines, and, in
particular, one which is called by the inhabitants "summer grapes:" the
bunches of fruit were as large, and the grapes as good in quality, as
those in the vineyards round Paris. And it appeared to M. Michaux that
the attempts which had been made in Kentucky, to establish the culture
of the vine, would have been more successful in the Barrens, the soil of
which appeared to him better adapted for this kind of culture, than that
on the banks of the Kentucky. The Barrens are very thinly populated;
for, on the road where the plantations are closest together, M. Michaux
counted but eighteen in a space of sixty or seventy miles.
_Nasheville_, the principal and the oldest town in this part of
Tenessee, is situated on the _river Cumberland_, the borders of which
are here formed by a mass of chalky stone, upwards of sixty feet in
height. Except seven or eight houses, built of brick, the rest, to the
number of about a hundred and twenty, were constructed of wood, and were
distributed over a surface of twenty-five or thirty acres, where the
rock appeared almost naked in every part.
This little town, although it had been built more than fifteen years,
contained no kind of manufactory or public establishment; but there was
a printing-office, at which a newspaper was published once a week. A
college had also been founded here; but it was yet in its infancy,
having not more than seven or eight students, and only one professor.
The price of labour in the vicinity of Nasheville was higher than at
Lexington. There appeared to be from fifteen to twenty shops, which were
supplied from Philadelphia and Baltimore; but they did not seem so well
stocked as those of Lexington, and the articles, though dearer, were of
inferior quality.
All the inhabitants of the western country, who go by the river to New
Orleans, return by land and pass through Nasheville, which is the first
town beyond Natchez. The interval which separates these towns is about
six hundred miles, and was, at this time, entirely uninhabited. Several
persons who had travelled this road, assured M. Michaux that, for a
space of four or five hundred miles beyond Natchez, the country was very
irregular; that the soil was sandy, in some parts covered with pines,
and not much adapted for culture; but that, on the contrary, the borders
of the river Tenessee were fertile, and superior even to the richest
parts of Kentucky.
On the fifth of September, M. Michaux set out from Nasheville for
Knoxville. He was accompanied by a Mr. Fisk, one of the commissioners
who had been appointed to determine the boundaries between the states
of Tenessee and Kentucky. They stopped on the road, with different
friends of Mr. Fisk; among others, with General Smith, one of the oldest
inhabitants of the country. M. Michaux saw, _en passant_, General
Winchester. He was at a stone house which was building for him on the
road. This mansion, the state of the country considered, bore the
external marks of grandeur: it consisted of four large rooms on the
ground-floor, one story, and a garret. The workmen employed to finish
the inside had come from Baltimore, a distance of near seven hundred
miles.
A few miles from the residence of General Winchester, and at a short
distance from the road, is a small town which had been founded but a few
years, and to which the inhabitants had given the name of _Cairo_, in
memory of the taking of Cairo by the French.
Between Nasheville and Fort Blount the plantations, though always
isolated in the woods, were, nevertheless, by the side of the road, and
within two or three miles of each other: the inhabitants resided in
log-houses, and most of them kept negroes, and appeared to live happily
and in abundance. Through the whole of this space the soil was but
slightly undulated: in some places it was level, and in general it was
excellent.
_Fort Blount_ had been constructed about eighteen years before M.
Michaux was in America. It had been built for the purpose of protecting,
against the attacks of the Indians, such emigrants as came, at that
time, to settle in its vicinity. But peace having been concluded with
the Indians, and the population having much increased, the
fortifications now no longer existed.
On the eleventh of September M. Michaux and Mr. Fisk left Fort Blount;
and, at the house of Major Russel, some miles distant, they were
obligingly furnished with provisions for two days' journey through the
territory of the Cherokees.
The country became now so mountainous, that they could not proceed more
than forty-five miles the first day, though they travelled till
midnight. They encamped near a small river, where there was an
abundance of grass; and, after having lighted a fire, they slept in
their rugs, keeping watch alternately, in order to guard their horses.
During this day's journey they had seen no animals, except some flocks
of wild turkeys.
The second day after their departure, they met a party of eight or ten
Indians, who were searching for grapes and chinquapins, a small species
of chesnuts, superior in taste to those of Europe. As M. Michaux and his
friend had only twenty miles to go before they reached West Point, they
gave to these men the remainder of their provisions. With the American
Indians bread is a great treat; for their usual food consists only of
venison and wild-fowl.
The road, which crosses this part of the Indian territory, cuts through
the mountains of Cumberland; and, in consequence of the great number of
emigrants who travel through it, to settle in the western country, it
was, at this time, as broad and commodious as the roads were near
Philadelphia. In some places, however, it was very rugged. Little boards
painted black and nailed against the trees, every three miles, indicated
to travellers the distance they had to go.
In this part of Tenessee the mass of the forests is composed of all the
species of trees which belong more particularly to the mountainous
regions of North America; such as oaks, maples, hickory-nut trees, and
pines.
At _West Point_ there was a fort palisadoed round with trees, and built
upon a lofty eminence, at the conflux of the _rivers Clinch_ and
_Holstein_. A company of soldiers was kept here, for the purpose of
holding the Indians in check, and also of protecting them against the
inhabitants on the frontiers, whose cruelty and illiberal proceedings
had frequently excited them to war.
These _Indians_ are above the middle size, are well-proportioned, and
healthy in appearance, notwithstanding the long fasting they are
frequently obliged to endure, whilst in pursuit of animals, the flesh of
which forms their chief subsistence. The carbine is the only weapon
they use: they are very dexterous with it, and are able to kill animals
at a great distance. The usual dress of the men consists of a shirt,
which hangs loose, and of a slip of blue cloth, about half a yard in
length, which serves them for breeches; they put it between their
thighs, and fasten the two ends, before and behind, to a sort of girdle.
They wear long gaiters, and shoes made of prepared goat-skins. When full
dressed they wear a coat, waistcoat, and hat; but they never have
breeches. On the top of their heads they have a tuft of hair, which they
form into several tresses, that hang down the sides of their face; and
they frequently attach quills or little silver tubes to the extremities.
Many of them pierce their noses, in order to put rings through. They
also cut holes in their ears, which are made to hang down two or three
inches, by pieces of lead, which are fastened to them. They paint their
faces red, blue, or black.
A shirt and a short petticoat constitute the chief dress of the women,
who also wear gaiters like the men. Their hair, which is of jet-black
colour, they suffer to grow to its natural length; but they do not
pierce their noses, nor disfigure their ears. In winter both the men and
women, in order to guard against cold, wrap themselves in blue rugs,
which they always carry with them, and which form an essential part of
their luggage.
M. Michaux was informed, at West Point, that the Cherokees had lately
begun to cultivate their possessions, and that they had made a rapid
progress in agriculture. Some of them had good plantations, and even
negro slaves. Several of the women spin cotton and manufacture
cotton-stuffs.
The distance from West Point to Knoxville is thirty-five miles. About a
mile from West Point the travellers passed through _Kingstown_, a place
consisting of thirty or forty log-houses. After that the road extended,
upwards of eighteen miles, through a rugged and flinty soil, covered
with a kind of grass. The trees that occupied this space, grew within
twenty or thirty yards of each other.
_Knoxville_, the seat of government for the state of Tenessee, is
situated on the _river Holstein_, here a hundred and fifty fathoms
broad. The houses were, at this time, about two hundred in number, and
were built chiefly of wood. Although it had been founded eighteen or
twenty years, Knoxville did not yet possess any kind of commercial
establishment, or manufactory, except two or three tan-yards. Baltimore
and Richmond are the towns with which this part of the country transacts
most business. The distance from Knoxville to Baltimore is seven hundred
miles, and to Richmond four hundred and twenty. The inhabitants of
Knoxville send flour, cotton, and lime, to New Orleans, by the river
Tenessee; but the navigation of this river is much interrupted, in two
places, by shallows interspersed with rocks.
In the tavern at Knoxville travellers and their horses are accommodated
at the rate of about five shillings per day; but this is considered dear
for a country where the situation is by no means favourable to the sale
of provisions. A newspaper is published at Knoxville twice a week.
On the 17th of September, M. Michaux took leave of Mr. Fisk, and
proceeded alone towards Jonesborough, a town about a hundred miles
distant; and situated at the foot of the lofty mountains which separate
North Carolina from Tenessee. On leaving Knoxville the soil was uneven,
stony, and bad; and the forests contained a great number of pine-trees.
Before he reached _Macby_, M. Michaux observed, for the space of two
miles, a copse extremely full of young trees, the loftiest of which was
not more than twenty feet high. The inhabitants of the country informed
him that this place had formerly been part of a barren, or meadow, which
had clothed itself again with trees, after its timber, about fifteen
years before, had been totally destroyed by fire. This appears to
prove, that the spacious meadows in Kentucky and Tenessee owe their
origin to some great conflagration which has consumed the forests and
that they continue as meadows, by the practice, still continued, of
annually setting them on fire, for the purpose of clearing the land.
M. Michaux stopped, the first day, at a place where most of the
inhabitants were Quakers. One of these, with whom he lodged, had an
excellent plantation, and his log-house was divided into two rooms.
Around the house were growing some magnificent apple-trees: these,
although produced from pips, bore fruit of extraordinary size and
excellent flavour, a circumstance which proves how well this country is
adapted for the culture of fruit-trees. At this house there were two
emigrant families, consisting of ten or twelve persons, who were going
to settle in Tenessee. Their clothes were ragged, and their children
were barefooted and in their shirts.
Beyond this place the road divided into two branches, both of which led
to Jonesborough; and, as M. Michaux was desirous of surveying the banks
of the _river Nolachuky_, renowned for their fertility, he took the
branch which led him in that direction. As he proceeded he found many
small rock crystals, two or three inches long, and beautifully
transparent. They were loose, and disseminated upon the road, in a
reddish kind of earth.
On the twenty-first he arrived at _Greenville_, a town which contained
scarcely forty houses, constructed with square beams, and somewhat in
the manner of log-houses. The distance between this place and
Jonesborough, is about twenty-five miles: the country was slightly
mountainous, the soil was more adapted to the culture of corn than that
of Indian wheat; and the plantations were situated near the road, two or
three miles distant from each other.
_Jonesborough_, the last town in Tenessee, consisted, at this time, of
about a hundred and fifty houses, built of wood, and disposed on both
sides of the road. Four or five respectable shops were established
there, and the tradespeople, who kept them, received their goods from
Richmond and Baltimore.
On the twenty-first of September, M. Michaux set out from Jonesborough
to cross the _Alleghany Mountains_, for North Carolina. In some places
the road, or rather the path, was scarcely distinguishable, in
consequence of the plants of various kinds that covered its surface. It
was also encumbered by forests of rhododendron: shrubs, from eighteen to
twenty feet in height, the branches of which, twisted and interwoven
with each other, greatly impeded his progress. He had also to cross
numerous streams; particularly a large torrent, called Rocky Creek, the
winding course of which cut the path in twelve or fifteen directions.
On the twenty-third this gentleman proceeded twenty-two miles, through a
hilly country; and, in the evening, arrived at the house of a person
named Davenport, the owner of a charming plantation upon _Doe River_. M.
Michaux staid here a week, in order to rest himself and recruit his
strength, after a journey of six hundred miles which he had just made.
On the second of October, he again set out, and proceeded towards
Morganton. About four miles from Doe River he passed the chain of the
_Blue Ridges_, and afterwards that of the _Linneville Mountains_. From
the summit of the latter he observed an immense extent of mountainous
country, covered with forests. Only three small places appeared to be
cleared, which formed as many plantations, three or four miles distant
from each other.
From the Linneville Mountains to Morganton, the distance is about
twenty-five miles: in this interval the country was slightly
mountainous, and the soil extremely bad.
_Morganton_, the principal town of the county of Burke, contained about
fifty houses built of wood, almost all of which were inhabited by
tradesmen. There was only one warehouse, and this was supported by a
commercial establishment at Charleston. To it the inhabitants of the
country, for twenty miles round, came to purchase English manufactured
goods and jewellery; or to exchange, for these, a portion of their own
produce, consisting of dried hams, butter, tallow, bear-skins and
stag-skins.
From Morganton to Charleston the distance is two hundred and eighty-five
miles. There are several roads; but M. Michaux took that which led
through Lincolnton, Chester, and Columbia. The distance from Morganton
to Lincolnton, is forty-five miles. Through the whole of this space the
soil is extremely barren; and the plantations, straggling five or six
miles from each other, have an unfavourable appearance. The woods are
chiefly composed of different kinds of oaks; and the surface of the
ground is covered with grass, intermixed with other plants.
_Lincolnton_, at this time, consisted of forty houses, and, like all the
small towns in the interior of the United States, was surrounded by
woods. There were, at Lincolnton, two or three large shops, which
transacted the same kind of business as that at Morganton. The tradesmen
who kept them sent the produce of the adjacent country to Charleston,
but they sometimes stocked themselves with goods from Philadelphia.
At Lincolnton a newspaper was published twice a week. The price of
subscription was two dollars per annum, but the printer, who was his own
editor, took, by way of payment, flour, rye, wax, or other traffic, at
the market-price. As in England, the advertisements were the most
important source of profit. The foreign news was almost wholly extracted
from papers published at the sea-ports.
The district around Lincolnton was peopled, in a great measure, by
Germans from Pennsylvania. Their plantations were kept in excellent
order, and their lands were well cultivated. Almost all had negro
slaves, and there reigned among them a greater independence than in the
families of English origin.
From Lincolnton to Chester, in the state of South Carolina, the distance
is about seventy miles. Through the whole of this space the earth is
light, and of a quality inferior to that between Morganton and
Lincolnton, although the mass of the forests is composed of various
species of oaks. In some places, however, pine-trees are in such
abundance that, for several miles, the ground is covered with nothing
else.
_Chester_ contained about thirty houses, built of wood; and among the
number were two inns and two respectable shops.
From Chester the country becomes worse in every respect than before; and
the traveller is obliged to put up at inns, where he is badly
accommodated both in board and lodging, and at which he pays dearer than
in any other part of the United States. The reputation of these inns is
esteemed according to the quantity and different kinds of spirits which
they sell.
From Chester to Columbia the distance is fifty-five miles. M. Michaux
passed through _Winesborough_, containing about a hundred and fifty
houses. This place is one of the oldest inhabited towns in Carolina, and
several planters of the low country go thither every year to spend the
summer and autumn.
[_Columbia_, now the seat of government for the state of South Carolina,
is situated below the confluence of the _Broad_ and _Saluda Rivers_. It
is laid out on a regular plan, the streets intersecting each other at
right angles. The buildings are erected at the distance of about three
quarters of a mile from the _Cangaree River_, on a ridge of high land,
three hundred feet above the level of the water. In 1808, Columbia
contained about one hundred and fifty houses. Vineyards, cotton, and
hemp-plantations are successfully cultivated in its vicinity; and
oil-mills, rope walks, and some other manufactories have been
established here.]
The distance from Columbia to Charleston is about a hundred and twenty
miles; and, through the whole of this space, the road crosses an even
country, sandy and dry during the summer, whilst in the autumn and
winter, it is so covered with water that, in several places, for the
space of eight or ten miles, the horses are up to their middle. Every
two or three miles there were, by the side of the road, miserable
log-houses, surrounded by little fields of Indian corn.
The extreme unwholesomeness of the climate is shown by the pale and
livid countenances of the inhabitants, who, during the months of
September and October, are almost all affected with tertian fevers. Very
few persons take any remedy for this complaint: they merely wait the
approach of the first frosts, which, if they live so long, generally
effect a cure.
M. Michaux arrived at _Charleston_ on the eighteenth of October, 1802,
three months and a half after his departure from Philadelphia, having,
in that time, travelled over a space of nearly eighteen hundred miles.
Eleventh Day's Instruction.